Friday, September 21, 2007

I Think I Also Need to Join a 'Little House on the Prairie" Addiction Group

Yes, I admit it. I cannot go one day without watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie on DVD.

I hate this show. I hate the goodie-goodie stories and the predictable lines from the characters. I hate the fact that anytime one of the Olesons say something of a mocking nature to one of the Ingalls girls, the response is always, “My pa says… “.

Last night I sat through an hour of Mary Ingalls’ dilemma of her new bloody glasses. I mean, what a waste! She goes blind in the end of the series anyway. I really hate this show!! So why can I not stop watching it? Or better still, why can I not stop buying the show on DVD?

No matter how hard I search myself, I cannot find an explanation for this addiction. It could be memories of a childhood crush on a sweaty Michael Landon, or maybe because I always wanted to be Nellie Oleson (she had the best candy). Maybe it is because it reminds of when I was growing up it was the only show on TV which my dad let us watch.

My dad turned christianity into something similar to a S&M fetish. He controlled everything we did or saw. We were not allowed to go to movie theatres because the same theatres that showed movies such as “Freaky Friday” or “The Sound of Music” were the same theatres that showed porn (I don’t know what theatres he was going to). We were not allowed to dance because dancing promoted sexual activity. TV shows were strictly monitored: The Facts of Life was deemed too racy.

So why, if this was seemingly such a horrible time in my life, do I have a strong affinity for this Little House on the Prairie? They used to air re-runs of it at 9:00 am on weekdays. Of course, being on at the time it was, I could never watch the re-runs as I was in school. Except for those few days a year when snow fell from the sky like manna and school was cancelled. Yes, I speak of the desperately wanted and often illusive snow day.

That special day when you wake up to a blanket of thick virgin snow and as you gobble down a giant bowl of Golden Grahams, you listen to the radio eagerly awaiting the announcer to list your school. Unfortunately, I lived a in a very strict school district and more often than not, the surrounding school districts cancelled their school day due to the weather but not mine.

So when it happened, it was special. My parents would schlep off to work and I would be left to my own devices. I would crawl back underneath the covers and turn on my little black and white television set and watch Little House on the Prairie. Heaven!

So that may just be the reason. I am not addicted to the show itself, but the feeling of happiness it brings to me when I watch it. My own private snow day everyday.